South Australia to establish truth-telling commission with $8.5 million investment, pressing ahead on Uluru Statement agenda

South Australia will establish a truth-telling commission backed by $8.5 million in state funding, cementing its position as the second most advanced jurisdiction in Australia on the Uluru Statement from the Heart's agenda — and doing so entirely independently of the federal referendum that collapsed in 2023.

Acting Premier and Aboriginal Affairs Minister Kyam Maher announced the commission while speaking at the Garma Festival in Arnhem Land, confirming the body would be stood up over the coming months. It will conduct a formal truth-telling process and provide advice on the prospects for a treaty between the state government and First Nations South Australians.

A commitment made long before the referendum

Maher was direct in distancing the state's plans from the outcome of the October 2023 federal referendum, in which more than 60 per cent of Australians voted against a constitutional amendment that would have recognised Indigenous Australians and established a national advisory Voice to Parliament. Every state and territory except the ACT voted No — and South Australia, after Queensland, recorded the country's highest No vote.

Despite that result, Maher argued the state's program predates and operates separately from the federal question. "This is about something we committed seven years ago to do in South Australia, and we will take that commitment," he said, pointing to the pledge South Australian Labor made while still in opposition in 2019.

"What was voted on at the referendum was to change the federal constitution, to firstly recognise Aboriginal people — recognise the oldest living culture this planet's ever seen — but also to establish an advisory body," he said, drawing a clear line between that national question and the state's own trajectory.

Labor won government in South Australia in 2022 and, in March 2023 — before the federal referendum was even held — legislated a state Voice to Parliament. The party has since won a second term in office, meaning the Voice has now been tested across two state elections.

How South Australia's Voice to Parliament works

The state Voice comprises 12 members drawn from six regional bodies, all elected by and from First Nations South Australians. The body advises both parliament and the government on matters affecting Aboriginal communities, including health, education and justice.

Maher acknowledged the early work of building the institution was complex. With no national model to draw on, he likened the process to "building the plane as you're flying it" — constructing governance infrastructure for something that had no precedent anywhere in Australia.

At the most recent state election, roughly half of the incumbent Voice members were returned and half of seats went to new members. Maher described that mix as beginning to generate substantive advice that the government can act on.

He was candid that not everyone has embraced the process. "I wouldn't say there's no division," he said, noting his office continues to receive dozens of letters each month from people opposed to the state's approach.

Truth-telling commission: the next stage of the framework

Maher described the incoming commission as "the next element" of the same long-term framework — a natural progression from the Voice, moving toward the truth-telling and treaty pillars of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, the landmark 2017 declaration by Indigenous leaders.

The $8.5 million investment will fund the commission's operations as it embarks on a formal truth-telling process, and it will also advise the government on whether and how a treaty could be pursued. South Australia follows Victoria as the jurisdiction that has moved furthest along this path, placing it at the leading edge of state-level engagement with the Uluru Statement's agenda.

The announcement came the day after Voice architect Noel Pearson delivered his first major public address since the 2023 referendum defeat, grappling with what the loss meant and questioning what right anyone had to offer a vision that turned out to be, in his words, a "mirage." The weight of that reckoning formed a backdrop to Maher's own declaration that state-level progress would continue regardless.

What comes next

The commission is expected to be formally established over the coming months. Its work will unfold within a broader state framework that has been building since 2019, shaped by — but legally distinct from — the national conversation that culminated in the failed referendum.

For those tracking shifts in the Australian political landscape, South Australia's continued momentum on the Uluru Statement represents one of the more significant developments in domestic Indigenous affairs policy, even as federal ambitions in this space remain stalled.

Maher's message from Garma was unambiguous: the state made a commitment, it has honoured that commitment through two election cycles, and it intends to see it through to its conclusion — whatever the national political weather may be.